Country Overview

Introduction

Romania is situated on the Balkan Peninsula. The country is bounded by Ukraine, Moldova, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, and the Black Sea. Christianity was established in the present Romanian territory from the third century C.E.

The church is considered by some to have been the most important cultural institution and a key factor in preserving the national identity even when different parts of Romanian lands were subsequently under Ottoman, Polish, Habsburg, and Russian suzerainty. In Transylvania, Habsburg domination replaced Ottoman suzerainty at the end of the seventeenth century, and part of the Romanian population accepted unification with the Roman Catholic Church.